Merce Cunningham
Lois Hunt
Otto Heino
You shall be missed!!
Le Rêve Américain
8 years ago
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
High in the Sky: A Walk on the High Line
Finding ourselves down in Chelsea yesterday, right at the foot of one of the entrances to the new High Line Park, we decided to ascend and see what all the hubbub was all about.
Beside the crowds, one is immediately struck by the lovely, open airiness of the park. This Saturday was particularly hot and its was deliciously refreshing to catch the breeze off the Hudson River. It also provides you with some nice alternate views of some of downtown's architecture (most notably Frank Gehry's IAC building). We found it refreshing to get a perspective on the skyline that isn't street level.
The boundaries of the park restrict its width (its a converted railway freight line) thus making it a bit perilous on a crowded afternoon. Concrete pathways rise up to your left and right providing protection for the plant life growing along the long stretch of the park (it currently runs from Gansevoort St up to 20th St; it will ultimately head up to 30th St, then navigate west to Twelfth Ave, then back north), causing wonderful opportunities to trip and fall. A sort of railway tie theme runs throughout the park, which was designed by the landscape architecture and urban design firm James Corner Field Operations with architecture firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro. "Peel-up" benches rise up out of the diagonal pathway design allowing visitors a spot to relax and people watch. Venturing south there is a wonderful stretch of shaded area, illuminated with long strips of tube lights graduate through shades of blue, which also acts a food court area for snacks, drinks and the every popular gelato. Just past this shelter from the intense sun, a stretch of chaise lounges provide the sun-addicted an excellent opportunity to work on their tans and melanomas. Around the 16th Street entrance (which provides elevator access to the park) there a sweet set of tiered benches in the vein of amphitheater seating which provides an interesting cutaway view of the traffic running below on Tenth Avenue.
The plantings which blend a mix of wild and deliberate species is a pleasant blend of exotic and mundane, though I question the inclusion of the insidious century plant. Perhaps exotic to a Manhattanite, they are the pernicious devil to anyone with a real garden.
For a more detailed slideshow of park plans, architectural sketches and construction views, you can check out High Line sponsored presentation at Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/friendsofthehighline/sets/72157605739397352/show/)
PS: Friends of the High Line take note. Get your commerce site up and running quick. According to the nice young woman who thanked us for visiting as I exited at 20th Street, the hottest question of the day was 'where can I get one of those cool t-shirts'. You have a guaranteed money-maker there!! Can't wait to buy mine!!
Beside the crowds, one is immediately struck by the lovely, open airiness of the park. This Saturday was particularly hot and its was deliciously refreshing to catch the breeze off the Hudson River. It also provides you with some nice alternate views of some of downtown's architecture (most notably Frank Gehry's IAC building). We found it refreshing to get a perspective on the skyline that isn't street level.
The boundaries of the park restrict its width (its a converted railway freight line) thus making it a bit perilous on a crowded afternoon. Concrete pathways rise up to your left and right providing protection for the plant life growing along the long stretch of the park (it currently runs from Gansevoort St up to 20th St; it will ultimately head up to 30th St, then navigate west to Twelfth Ave, then back north), causing wonderful opportunities to trip and fall. A sort of railway tie theme runs throughout the park, which was designed by the landscape architecture and urban design firm James Corner Field Operations with architecture firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro. "Peel-up" benches rise up out of the diagonal pathway design allowing visitors a spot to relax and people watch. Venturing south there is a wonderful stretch of shaded area, illuminated with long strips of tube lights graduate through shades of blue, which also acts a food court area for snacks, drinks and the every popular gelato. Just past this shelter from the intense sun, a stretch of chaise lounges provide the sun-addicted an excellent opportunity to work on their tans and melanomas. Around the 16th Street entrance (which provides elevator access to the park) there a sweet set of tiered benches in the vein of amphitheater seating which provides an interesting cutaway view of the traffic running below on Tenth Avenue.
The plantings which blend a mix of wild and deliberate species is a pleasant blend of exotic and mundane, though I question the inclusion of the insidious century plant. Perhaps exotic to a Manhattanite, they are the pernicious devil to anyone with a real garden.
For a more detailed slideshow of park plans, architectural sketches and construction views, you can check out High Line sponsored presentation at Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/friendsofthehighline/sets/72157605739397352/show/)
PS: Friends of the High Line take note. Get your commerce site up and running quick. According to the nice young woman who thanked us for visiting as I exited at 20th Street, the hottest question of the day was 'where can I get one of those cool t-shirts'. You have a guaranteed money-maker there!! Can't wait to buy mine!!
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
10 Reasons to Love Montreal Over New York City
1) The People - Montrealites (and Canadians in general) are more laid back and laissez-faire about life and work. Although totally cosmopolitan and vibrant, one doesn't get the "what the hell do you want from me" attitude that so many New Yorkers exude from their very pores. Mind you, New Yorkers, deep down want to be friendly and helpful, but they want to be that way SO bad that they end up just being pushy and arrogant about even that!
2) Marijuana - Montreal's air still wafts with the odor of joints and spliffs. It's a delightful odor, one that was highly present in New York until that "quality of life" Nazi Giuliani held sway over New York and made every pothead go underground. In Montreal, parks and street fairs carry the lovely smell of cannabis, and if cops are near by they simply do not care about it because it is a victimless crime.
3) Seediness - After Giuliani, New York simply lost its edge in this category. And its not just the Disney-ification of 42 Street. In Montreal, there are still seedy sides of town where strip clubs, bars and pedestrian malls converge in a bumptious way that has a vitality New York has lacked lately. Mind you, I was never a fan of being propositioned by hooker on Eighth Avenue, but I do miss feeling that one could catch someones eye on the subway or bus terminal, find yourself 15 minutes later doing the nasty, then getting back to your life with a wry smile and a sticky sense of satisfaction. I think it was best summed up by a tee-shirt I saw someone wearing one day that simply said "Possibly......".
4) $5 Tuesday - Any town that can have all its movie theaters offer $5 admission to the movies on a particular day of the week is alright with me!!
5) Vegepate - a staple of the vegetarian diet, there is nothing comparable down here that is available in almost every supermarket. Delish!!
6) Liberte Dulce de Leche Mediterranean style yogurt - I love this yogurt. 8 % milk fat and even though I thought the lemon and coconut were real finds here in the states (when you can find it) this stuff is heaven in a plastic container. Have some and you will be able to die happy!
7) Poutine - The last of the true Quebec specialites. Feve au lard and head cheese are harder to find these days, but this dish of french fries, cheese curds and gravy is still the perfect dish for ending a long night of partying.
8) Bagels - Ever since H&H cornered the market in the New York bagel market & Thomas' think they know what a bagel is, the Montreal bagel is a step above our average meager fare. Thinner, with a larger hole, most Montreal bagels are baked in wood burning ovens which give them a lovely toasty brown color and deep, rich taste. Their consistency is a throw-back to New York's old bagels and a pleasure to indulge in while on a visit.
9) Apartments - Unless you've been living on the Upper West Side for the past 30 years, Montreal apartments are still spacious and remarkably cheap. I know of no one in Montreal who lives in a studio apartment, let alone paying $2,000 a month for the privilege!
10) Porches - While on the topic of apartments, it never ceases to amaze me that almost every living space in Montreal has some sort of outdoor space. It may be large, it may be small, it may be in the front, in may be in back, but almost no one goes without outdoor space. When the weather warms up on this island in the middle of a river, the people throw open their windows, put on their flip-flops, buy some beer, gather their friends and enjoy life passing by. People smile, people wave, people act like people, not privileged individual.
2) Marijuana - Montreal's air still wafts with the odor of joints and spliffs. It's a delightful odor, one that was highly present in New York until that "quality of life" Nazi Giuliani held sway over New York and made every pothead go underground. In Montreal, parks and street fairs carry the lovely smell of cannabis, and if cops are near by they simply do not care about it because it is a victimless crime.
3) Seediness - After Giuliani, New York simply lost its edge in this category. And its not just the Disney-ification of 42 Street. In Montreal, there are still seedy sides of town where strip clubs, bars and pedestrian malls converge in a bumptious way that has a vitality New York has lacked lately. Mind you, I was never a fan of being propositioned by hooker on Eighth Avenue, but I do miss feeling that one could catch someones eye on the subway or bus terminal, find yourself 15 minutes later doing the nasty, then getting back to your life with a wry smile and a sticky sense of satisfaction. I think it was best summed up by a tee-shirt I saw someone wearing one day that simply said "Possibly......".
4) $5 Tuesday - Any town that can have all its movie theaters offer $5 admission to the movies on a particular day of the week is alright with me!!
5) Vegepate - a staple of the vegetarian diet, there is nothing comparable down here that is available in almost every supermarket. Delish!!
6) Liberte Dulce de Leche Mediterranean style yogurt - I love this yogurt. 8 % milk fat and even though I thought the lemon and coconut were real finds here in the states (when you can find it) this stuff is heaven in a plastic container. Have some and you will be able to die happy!
7) Poutine - The last of the true Quebec specialites. Feve au lard and head cheese are harder to find these days, but this dish of french fries, cheese curds and gravy is still the perfect dish for ending a long night of partying.
8) Bagels - Ever since H&H cornered the market in the New York bagel market & Thomas' think they know what a bagel is, the Montreal bagel is a step above our average meager fare. Thinner, with a larger hole, most Montreal bagels are baked in wood burning ovens which give them a lovely toasty brown color and deep, rich taste. Their consistency is a throw-back to New York's old bagels and a pleasure to indulge in while on a visit.
9) Apartments - Unless you've been living on the Upper West Side for the past 30 years, Montreal apartments are still spacious and remarkably cheap. I know of no one in Montreal who lives in a studio apartment, let alone paying $2,000 a month for the privilege!
10) Porches - While on the topic of apartments, it never ceases to amaze me that almost every living space in Montreal has some sort of outdoor space. It may be large, it may be small, it may be in the front, in may be in back, but almost no one goes without outdoor space. When the weather warms up on this island in the middle of a river, the people throw open their windows, put on their flip-flops, buy some beer, gather their friends and enjoy life passing by. People smile, people wave, people act like people, not privileged individual.
Art Reviews: Robert Polidori, Betty Goodwin & Spring Hurlbut at Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal
On our recent trip up north we paid a visit to Montreal's Museum of Contemporary Art and saw the following exhibitions:Robert Polidori: This exhibit of large color focuses on interior space. Taken at various times and various places, these images all share a quality of dishevelment and decay. Interiors of Versailles, Havana, New Orleans & Chernobyl/Pripyat all evoke a creepy, elegiac elegance. In many of them you might expect to see the aged Miss Havisham coming through a doorway. They all possess a creepy beauty.
Mr. Polidori has an amazing ability to bring life to the most inanimate of objects. His documentation of architecture is second to none and I hope the editors of the New Yorker will him another juicy assignment SOON!
Note to the curator: the four exterior images, two of Lebanon, two of India, are beautiful but extraneous to the bulk of the exhibit and add nothing to the loving elegance of the other photographs being exhibited.
Betty Goodwin: This survey of the Montreal artist's work spans 40 years and follows an interesting, but unremarkable, arc. Early work from the late 60's and early 70's shows the artist at her most original; prints and multimedia works rooted in the image of clothing, primarily vests, have a shadowy, eerie feel, as though the occupants of them have been wiped out or erased. I particularly liked a wall piece that contained several vest buried in dirt.If only she had kept along those lines and been true to them. The rest of the exhibit is interesting but derivative. Large canvas pieces recall the works of Burri and Beuys. Tall, narrow, hermetic sculptures in metal bring to mind the spindly houses of Louise Bourgeois, and large figurative works on tiles from the 80's echo the works of Jennifer Bartlett.
Spring Hurlbut: This large installation piece entitled "Le Jardin du sommeil", or "The Garden of Sleep" is another wonderfully evocative, eerie work from the museum's collection. The work, which dates from 1998, is deceptive in its presentation. I wasn't sure what I was going to see, if anything, since the first gallery consists simply of several funeral wreaths. After circumnavigating the wall which displays them, one stumbles into a large, dimly lit space consisting of row upon row of cribs, cradles and bassinets, most for actual children, a few for dolls. Laid out in almost Minimalist fashion, most of them are metal though a few incorporate rope netting in various states of decay. Some are static, some rock (when given a push). The entire effect is amazing at first, but after spending a minute or two walking around the large gallery a sad, funereal gloom falls over the work; who's beds were these? what happened to these children? Were they lost in infancy or merely swallowed up by life? The piece produces a gut-wrenching punch by simply letting these empty 'containers' produce more and more questions in the viewer's mind.A definite must-see.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Coming soon: Our Report from the North.
Reports for Montreal: Le festival de Jazz, Robert Polidori, Betty Goodwin & Spring Hurlbut at the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, & 10 reasons to like Montreal over New York!!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
DANCE, LITTLE LADY, DANCE: Remembering Pina Bausch
We were saddened to hear the news of the death of Pina Bausch, dancer and choreographer, creator of Tanztheater Wuppertal and overcome with a rush of visual memory.Dancers stuffing meat into shoes before stuffing their feet in, women in ballgowns swinging from gymnastic rings, a brick wall collapsing at the start of a performance, couples in a long slow line dance, stages filled with water, grass, carnations, dirt.
One doesn't easily forget one's first exposure to Pina. Mine was on her first performance visit to New York in 1984, the year of the Los Angeles Olympics. Her company had performed out west and when they arrived at BAM that year, I probably would have missed it if it weren't for a dancer friend who knew one of her dancers (the remarkable Dominique Mercy) and had an extra ticket and no date. What I witnessed was unlike anything I had ever seen onstage. 1980 was a massive piece, close to 4 hours long. An intermission had been thrust into the middle of the performance after complaints came back in LA. The stage was covered with grass and various pieces of gymnastic equipment were moved on and off stage during the performance as well as a stuffed deer. I specifically remember turning to my friend afterwards and saying 'What the hell was that?" It seemed at moments that the inmate of a lunatic asylum had been let loose on stage!
And yet.....
Images of this performance kept coming back to me for the next couple of days; women in a line, exposing one leg from under their gowns, grinning like potential beauty queens, being told to "smile, smile", a woman dancing an energetic solo underneath a lawn sprinkler, couples dancing in a line that snaked off the stage and up and down the theater aisles, the entire cast sprawled out on the lawn/stage, in various stages of undress, while a bad recording of Judy Garland singing "Over The Rainbow" played and the lights on stage grew brighter and brighter. It was almost like a fever dream, tangible yet unreal.
I ended up returning to BAM to see the other two evenings being offered by the company, "On Listening to a Recording of Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle", a full-length performance and two shorter piece, "Cafe Mueller" and "Rite of Spring". All three pieces played out the savage relationship between men and women. Perhaps the most vivid of these appears in "Cafe Mueller". A man and a woman struggle to get out of a door; as each attempts to leave the other grabs them by the wrist and throws them against a wall, over and over and over. Later the scene is repeated, but the wall this time is transparent and as the dancers hit it we not only hear it it but see it from the improbable angle of the wall.
Over the years one began to recognise the elements of a Bausch piece, the line dances, the heartbreaking solo, the flaying arm gestures, slapstick gags, public humiliation and the performers almost Brechtian awareness of the audience. But you were almost always delighted in the way she would assemble these elements; what would be added this time? Who was the clown this time?No one (certainly in the dance world) had ever put so much drama into their work. We hope that there is someone who will take over these amazingly surreal hybrids of dance and theater and keep them alive for other generations to be amazed, baffled and delighted by, just as we were when we first saw them.
Viele Danke, Pina!!
Monday, July 6, 2009
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